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Martin Goodman

Modern accounts of hostility to Jews in classical antiquity have often been complicated by a concern to relate pagan anti-Semitism to the anti-Judaism of some early Christians and to the history of ...
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Modern accounts of hostility to Jews in classical antiquity have often been complicated by a concern to relate pagan anti-Semitism to the anti-Judaism of some early Christians and to the history of anti-Semitism in more recent times. A literary tradition hostile to Jews and Judaism can be traced back to Greek writers in Egypt from the 3rd century BC. The social, cultural and political background to anti-Jewish invective cannot always be discerned, but it has been plausibly argued that propaganda aimed at Jews after the attack on the Jerusalem Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and after the destruction of the Temple by Titus in A.D. 70 will have had a major impact: in the early second century AD, Tacitus wrote of the Jews that they ‘regard as profane all that we hold sacred; on the other hand, they permit all that we abhor’ (Hist. 5.4.1). Hostility seems to have been directed to Jewish customs rather than race, so that apostate Jews were not generally taunted with their origins, but the causes of hostility are debated. Some have argued that Jews were disliked just because they were different, but other scholars have focussed on local tensions, such as Jewish-Greek conflict in Alexandria in the first century AD (over Jewish aspirations to Alexandrian citizenship and Greek resentment of Roman protection of the Jews) and the periodic expulsions of Jews from Rome in the same period. The apparent significance of ancient antisemitism, compared to hostility to other minority groups, may be exaggerated by the preservation of unusual amounts of material about Jews in the later Jewish and Christian traditions, and by the emphasis laid on the campaign in Judaea by the Flavian regime, which used celebration of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 to disguise their seizure of power in the civil war of 68–69.Less

Tessa Rajak

Archelaus (4), following the will left by his father *Herod (1), was appointed by Augustus ethnarch of the southern part of Herod's kingdom—*Judaea, *Samaria, and *Idumaea. Archelaus married ...
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Archelaus (4), following the will left by his father *Herod (1), was appointed by Augustus ethnarch of the southern part of Herod's kingdom—*Judaea, *Samaria, and *Idumaea. Archelaus married (scandalously) Glaphyra, daughter of *Archelaus (5) of Cappadocia, previously the wife of his own half-brother, as well as of King *Juba (2) of Mauretania.Less

Tessa Rajak

The Alexandrian Jewish narrative of the making of the Greek translation of the Law (Torah) for the library of *Ptolemy (1) II Philadelphus, at the instigation of his librarian, *Demetrius (3) of ...
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The Alexandrian Jewish narrative of the making of the Greek translation of the Law (Torah) for the library of *Ptolemy (1) II Philadelphus, at the instigation of his librarian, *Demetrius (3) of Phaleron. The supposed author, a courtier named Aristeas, in an elaborate letter to his brother Philocrates, describes a mission to Eleazar, the high priest at *Jerusalem. Eleazar expounds the philosophical rationale of the Law, and supplies 72 scholars, six from each tribe. At a seven-day banquet, they guide the King on good kingship; he is impressed with their wisdom and piety and with their God. On the island of Pharus (see alexandria (1)), they complete their work in 72 days, in total harmony; they then present the translation to the King and to the Jewish community: it is to remain unchanged. The Letter has historical elements: the ascription of the start of what was to become the *Septuagint to Ptolemy Philadelphus is credible; and the description of Jerusalem has realistic elements.Less

William David Ross and Simon Hornblower

Aristobulus (2), an Alexandrian Jew (see alexandria), probably of the second half of the 2nd cent. bce, author of a commentary on the Pentateuch which is known only through quotations by *Clement of ...
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Aristobulus (2), an Alexandrian Jew (see alexandria), probably of the second half of the 2nd cent. bce, author of a commentary on the Pentateuch which is known only through quotations by *Clement of Alexandria, Anatolius, and *Eusebius. This has been thought by some scholars to be a much later work (of the 3rd cent. ce) falsely ascribed to Aristobulus; but this conclusion is not necessary. If the earlier date be accepted, the book is the earliest evidence of contact between Alexandrian Jewry and Greek philosophy. Its object was twofold, to interpret the Pentateuch in an allegorical fashion and to show that *Homer and *Hesiod, the Orphic writings (see orphic literature), *Pythagoras (1), *Plato (1), and *Aristotle had borrowed freely from a supposed early translation of the OT into Greek. Though Aristobulus toned down the anthropomorphism of the OT, his thought remained Jewish and theistic; it did not accept the pantheism of the Stoics nor anticipate the Logos-doctrine of *Philon (4).Less

Steven Fine

Architecture, coinage, and funerary remains reflect distinctive Jewish modes of participation in the larger visual culture of the Graeco-Roman period. Jews tended to distance themselves from ...
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Architecture, coinage, and funerary remains reflect distinctive Jewish modes of participation in the larger visual culture of the Graeco-Roman period. Jews tended to distance themselves from artefacts and imagery deemed potentially 'idolatrous', although this category was somewhat fluid. *Hasmonaean and Jewish revolt coinage exhibits mainly floral motifs and a palaeo-Hebrew script, reminiscent of Tyrian numismatics. The Temple menorah and showbread table appear on lepta of Antigonos Mattathias (39 bce), and other Jerusalem cult objects are found on coins of the First Revolt (66–74 ce) and the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–5 ce), which bear a tetrastyle representation of the lost Temple. The architecture of Herod's Temple (c.20/19 bce – 70 ce) was consonant with Augustan imperial architecture, apart from the avoidance of human and most animal imagery. From the 3rd cent. ce, symbols drawn from the Temple cult (e.g. the menorah), some of which were carried over into *synagogue liturgy (e.Less

Martin Goodman

Babatha was a Jewish woman who lived in the province of *Arabia in the first half of the 2nd cent. ce. Her documents, composed in Nabataean, *Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, were discovered ...
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Babatha was a Jewish woman who lived in the province of *Arabia in the first half of the 2nd cent. ce. Her documents, composed in Nabataean, *Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, were discovered hidden in a leather pouch in a cave near the Dead Sea. The date of the documents ranges from 96 to 134 ce. It is probable that Babatha died in the cave after taking refuge there during the *Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–5). The documents include marriage contracts, property transfers, and papers concerning a protracted lawsuit over the custody of Babatha's son by her first marriage. They are a precious source of evidence for the history of the region in the last years of the *Nabataean kingdom and the early years of the provincia Arabia, and for the cultural and legal history of *Jews in this period.

Edith Mary Smallwood and Tessa Rajak

Bar Kokhba, ‘son of a star’ in Aramaic, is the name given to the leader of the second Jewish revolt in Palestine (132–5ce), to whom was apparently applied by Rabbi Akiba the Messianic prophecy in ...
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Bar Kokhba, ‘son of a star’ in Aramaic, is the name given to the leader of the second Jewish revolt in Palestine (132–5ce), to whom was apparently applied by Rabbi Akiba the Messianic prophecy in Num. 24: 17. His real name, Shimʼon (Simon) ben or (in Aramaic) bar Cosiba, which appears in various forms in rabbinic literature, has emerged through the discovery of letters and other documents from his camp. These designate him ‘Nasi (prince) of Israel’. They are dated by the era of his ‘liberation of Israel’ apparently beginning on 1 Tishri (October) 131, the era also used on the coins struck by the rebels. Little is known of the course of the revolt, but literary evidence suggests large-scale conflict and inscriptions show that a major legionary force was needed to suppress it. The rebels relied mainly on guerrilla tactics, with their focus in *Judaea.Less

Benjamin G. Wright III

The book of Ben Sira is a wisdom text dating from the early 2nd century bce. It provides important evidence for Jewish wisdom traditions and teachers as well as Jewish scribes in this ...
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The book of Ben Sira is a wisdom text dating from the early 2nd century bce. It provides important evidence for Jewish wisdom traditions and teachers as well as Jewish scribes in this period. It was translated in Greek by the author’s grandson, and that version became the primary one, later becoming part of the Christian scriptural tradition. Fragmentary manuscripts of the Hebrew text were found in the Cairo Genizah and among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Edith Mary Smallwood and M. T. Griffin

Berenice (4) (b. 28 ce), daughter of M. *Iulius Agrippa I, was married to Marcus, brother of Ti. *Iulius Alexander in 41, and then in 46 to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. From his death (48) she ...
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Berenice (4) (b. 28 ce), daughter of M. *Iulius Agrippa I, was married to Marcus, brother of Ti. *Iulius Alexander in 41, and then in 46 to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. From his death (48) she lived with her brother, M. *Iulius Agrippa II. To quieten rumours of incest, she persuaded Polemon, priest-king of Olba in Cilicia, to marry her (53/54), but the marriage did not last long. She played some part in public affairs: in 66 she tried, at first single-handed and then with Agrippa, to prevent the Jewish Revolt, and in 69, in Agrippa's absence, she supported the Flavian cause. *Titus fell in love with her while he was in Judaea (67–70), and when she visited Rome with Agrippa (75) he openly lived with her, perhaps for some years. He deferred, however, to public opinion and did not marry her, and on his accession (79) he dismissed her with regret on both sides (Suet.Less

Edith Mary Smallwood and Tessa Rajak

Caesarea (2) in Palestine, under its original name of Strato's Tower (after a king of *Sidon), was captured by the *Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus in 103 bce, attached to the province of Syria by ...
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Caesarea (2) in Palestine, under its original name of Strato's Tower (after a king of *Sidon), was captured by the *Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus in 103 bce, attached to the province of Syria by Pompey in 63, and given to *Herod (1) by Octavian in 30. Between c.22 and 10 bce, Herod rebuilt the city on a lavish scale, renaming it after the emperor, and constructing a huge artificial *harbour, now exposed through underwater archaeology. Tensions over the control of the constitution between the large Jewish minority and the Graeco-Syrian majority led to riots, and delegations were sent to Nero. His decision against the Jews was followed by the desecration of a synagogue. The ensuing massacre of 20,000 Jews, allegedly in a single day, sparked off the first Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 ce. The city was the administrative capital of *Judaea under the procurators and again after 70, with a vigorous commercial life and a Roman lifestyle.Less

Nadav Sharon

Martin Goodman

Circumcision of male genitalia was widely practised in the ancient near east, as Herodotus (2.104) was aware. In general both Greeks and Romans found the custom repulsive and ridiculous, ...
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Circumcision of male genitalia was widely practised in the ancient near east, as Herodotus (2.104) was aware. In general both Greeks and Romans found the custom repulsive and ridiculous, which led to tensions especially with Jews, for whom circumcision, as a religious imperative, played a central role in establishing cultural identity. Jewish circumcision was prohibited by *Antiochus (4) IV Epiphanes and probably by *Hadrian, but *Antoninus Pius specifically permitted Jews to circumcise their own sons (Dig. 48.8.11). Although *Josephus wrote that other peoples, including Egyptian priests, practised circumcision in his day (Ap. 2.141–44), it was generally regarded as a distinctively Jewish custom by Greeks, Romans, and early Christians. Apostates from Judaism sometimes used epispasm, a surgical procedure to reverse circumcision, and rabbis after the *Bar Kokhba revolt changed the method of Jewish circumcision to make such reversal more difficult.

Matthew Thiessen

There is little evidence of conversion to Israelite religion or Judaism in Jewish scriptures. For instance, while later rabbis understood the book of Ruth to portray the conversion of Ruth ...
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There is little evidence of conversion to Israelite religion or Judaism in Jewish scriptures. For instance, while later rabbis understood the book of Ruth to portray the conversion of Ruth to Judaism, the book itself repeatedly refers to her as a Moabite, even after she declares to her mother-in-law Naomi that “your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Similarly, the Hebrew text of Esther 8:17 portrays numerous Gentiles Judaizing: “Many peoples of the land Judaized because fear of the Jews fell upon them.” The Septuagint translation (LXX) adds that this “Judaization” included circumcision. While some scholars believe that this verse refers to conversion, the author claims that this action was taken only out of fear of the Jews. These Gentiles did not Judaize out of religious conviction; rather, they merely pretended to be Jews to avoid Jewish retaliation for the violent machinations of Haman.

Martin Goodman

Documents made of leather and papyrus, and, in one case, of copper, found between 1947 and 1956 in caves near Qumran by the Dead Sea. The scrolls, written by Jews, are mostly in Hebrew and ...
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Documents made of leather and papyrus, and, in one case, of copper, found between 1947 and 1956 in caves near Qumran by the Dead Sea. The scrolls, written by Jews, are mostly in Hebrew and
*Aramaic
, but a small number are in Greek. Many are fragments of biblical texts from the Old Testament and from Jewish religious compositions otherwise only preserved through Christian manuscript traditions. The scrolls were written in the last centuries bce and 1st cent. ce.

Of particular significance in the study of
*Judaism
in this period are the texts composed by sectarians, whose relationship to the nearby settlement site at Qumran is debated. These texts include community rules, hymns, liturgical texts, calendars, and works of bible interpretation. Among this last group is found the pesher type of interpretation, characteristic of this sect and rarely found elsewhere in Jewish literature, in which the real meaning of scriptural passages is alleged to lie in hidden allusions to more recent events.

Dov Gera

Eleutheropolis (Arabic Beit Jibrin; Hebrew Beth Govrin, Beit Guvrin) is situated in Judea’s Shephelah on the southwesterly road from Jerusalem to Ascalon. This area was known as Idumaea in the ...
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Eleutheropolis (Arabic Beit Jibrin; Hebrew Beth Govrin, Beit Guvrin) is situated in Judea’s Shephelah on the southwesterly road from Jerusalem to Ascalon. This area was known as Idumaea in the Hellenistic period, the city of Maresha being an important centre. Presumably, the destruction of Maresha by the Parthians in 40bce pushed the city’s survivors to resettle some 2 km to the north and to form the village of Beth Govrin. A locality of that Semitic name, Βαιτογαβρεῖ (ἢ Βαιτογαβρά), Baetogabrei or Baetogabra, is attested in the 2nd century ce (Ptol. Geog. 5.16.6). In 199/200ce, when traveling through Syria Palaestina to Egypt, the emperor Septimius Severus refounded Beth Govrin as a polis, naming it Lucia Septimia Severiana Eleutheropolis. The city’s coins, all issued under the Severans starting with Septimius Severus’s own reign and extending to that of Elagabalus (Aurelius Antoninus (2)), disclose Eleutheropolis’s original pagan character, for they portray various deities including Tyche, Zeus Heliopolitanus, and a river god.Less

Martin J. Brooke

A late antique genre in which material from the Bible is versified in hexameters. Six major texts survive, the earliest being (1) the Evangeliorum libri IV of *Iuvencus. (2) The Heptateuchos of ...
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A late antique genre in which material from the Bible is versified in hexameters. Six major texts survive, the earliest being (1) the Evangeliorum libri IV of *Iuvencus. (2) The Heptateuchos of ‘Cyprianus Gallus’ versifies the first seven books of the Old Testament, and may originally have extended further. (3) The Carmen Paschale of Caelius *Sedulius consists of four books which synthesize the Gospel narratives, preceded by a résumé of Old Testament miracles. A prose version of the same material was written to accompany the poem. Provenance is uncertain, but the works are usually dated to ce 425–50. (4) The Alethia of Claudius Marius Victorius, a teacher of Marseilles, is a three-book paraphrase of the earliest portion of Genesis, written c.430. (5) Alcimus Avitus, born of a noble family c.450 and appointed bishop of Vienne c.490, wrote a five-book epic De spiritalis historiae gestis, treating Genesis 1–3, the Flood, and the Crossing of the Red Sea. (6) The De actibus Apostolorum of the Italian subdeacon Arator treats the material of Acts in two books, devoted respectively to Sts Peter and Paul.Less

Martin Goodman

Jewish religious group known to have flourished in Judaea in the 1st cent. ce. The doctrines and customs of the Essenes were described in detail by *Josephus and *Philon (4), and in a short notice by ...
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Jewish religious group known to have flourished in Judaea in the 1st cent. ce. The doctrines and customs of the Essenes were described in detail by *Josephus and *Philon (4), and in a short notice by Pliny the Elder. References in Christian literature were mostly derived from Josephus. The Essenes lived in regimented communities dedicated to pious *asceticism. They were to be found above the Dead Sea (*Pliny (1)) or in all the towns of *Judaea (Josephus). Josephus mentions two kinds of Essene, one group which was celibate, and others who married. Some relationship between the Essenes and the sectarians at Qumran by the Dead Sea who produced some of the *Dead Sea Scrolls is plausible but impossible to prove. If the Qumran sectarians were indeed Essenes, there must have existed even more varieties of Essenism and doctrines must have changed over time. According to Josephus and Philon, the Essenes were noted for their communal solidarity and discipline, their strict interpretation of the Law of Moses, and their devotion to their beliefs to the point of martyrdom, but the descriptions in these writers may have been over-idealized in order to impress a non-Jewish audience. See religion, jewish.Less

Antony Spawforth

Eupolemus (fl. c. 150 bce), a Hellenized Jewish historian from Palestine, wrote (in Greek) On the Kings in Judaea, a popular history of the Jews in a rhetorical style; fragments are quoted ...
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Eupolemus (fl. c. 150 bce), a Hellenized Jewish historian from Palestine, wrote (in Greek) On the Kings in Judaea, a popular history of the Jews in a rhetorical style; fragments are quoted by Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius.

Andrew Brown

Author of the Exagoge, a tragedy in Greek about Moses and the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. Nothing is known of his life, but he must have been a Hellenized Jew active between the ...
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Author of the Exagoge, a tragedy in Greek about Moses and the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. Nothing is known of his life, but he must have been a Hellenized Jew active between the late 3rd and early 1st cent. bce, probably at *Alexandria (1). He is credited with ‘Jewish tragedies’ in the plural, but we know only the Exagoge, of which 269 lines are preserved. It is based on the *Septuagint version of Exodus 1–15, but includes some free invention and aspires, with mixed success, to Euripidean style (see euripides). Though obviously untypical, it provides valuable evidence for Hellenistic tragedy. See jewish greek literature.